History Main / PleaseWakeup

* "No, Daddy has a lot of work to do and if they bury him he can't do it when he wakes up!" A particularly [[TearJerker heart wrenching scene]] in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' spoken by [[spoiler:[[DaddysGirl the young daughter]] of [[PapaWolf Maes Hughes]], Elicia,]] at his funeral.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'': It's an early GutPunch in season one. The kids love their class hamster Speedy, and wish him a good weekend when the episode starts. On Monday, Mikey goes to wish Speedy a good morning in his tank, only to realize he's asleep. Mikey taps the glass and shakes it, as the class gathers around in concern, including Hustler Kid and other background characters. T.J. tries to say he's tired from eating croutons, but Gus points out the bowl of croutons is ''full''. Ms. Grotke goes OhCrap because she knows what's happened, and tries to lie that Speedy is either meditating or hibernating. Gretchen, the genius of the class, knows that hamsters don't hibernate, and she picks up Speedy to check his heartbeat. She goes OhCrap and tries to stammer out "He's, he's...." and Mikey finishes her sentence by saying, "SPEEDY'S DEAD!!!!"

->''"Don't leave me here alone... Don't go where I can't follow... Wake up... not asleep...'' dead!"

* In ''Film/TheMazeRunner'', Thomas asks [[spoiler: Chuck]] to stay with him, begging him to wake up, and refuses to leave his body behind as it sinks in that he's dead after TakingTheBullet for Thomas.

* In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' has a strange case where it's played straight by one character and inverted by another. [[spoiler:Tony delivers the BadassFingersnap that puts an end to Thanos and his army for good, and the raw power of this action, in a homebrew gauntlet, is far too much for a human to handle. Once it's done and the villains are gone, Tony collapses. His protege, Peter Parker, swings over and tries to get him to wake up, but his wife, Pepper, realizes [[HeroicSacrifice what he's done]] and tells him he can rest now as he breathes his last.]]

* From the Wiki/SCPFoundation, an interview with [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1073 SCP-1073,]] a sapient colony of microbes (who thus have no experience with individual death):

--> '''Homer:''' ''(sweetly)'' Mom, are you asleep? ''(a little worriedly looking at her)'' Asleep [[DiesWideShut with your eyes open]]? [[TearJerker ...Mom?]] ''[[TearJerker (tearfully)]]'' [[TearJerker ...MOM?]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' story in ''Fanfic/TheDisneyChronicles'', the t. rex that fought and killed the stegosaurus for food [[MonsterIsAMommy is revealed to be a mother]] when, immediately after her death, [[WhamShot her young son walks into view]]. And from there, as the visiting Equestrians and Jiminy Cricket watch in stunned shock at this revelation, the baby t. rex chirps at his mother as if desperately begging her to wake up before then letting out an especially mournful sounding cry once he realizes [[KilledOffForReal she's not going to wake up]].

--> '''Homer:''' ''(sweetly)'' Mom, are you asleep? ''(a little worriedly, then tearfully, looking at her)'' Asleep [[DiesWideShut with your eyes open]]?...[[TearJerker Mom?... MOM?]]

** Similarly, in the ending of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', Rinoa does this wordlessly after finding Squall's apparently lifeless body in a wasteland beyond time. Her Sorceress powers kick in, bringing them both back to their own time, and possibly bringing him back to life as well (open to interpretation as to whether he was dead, as there is no dialogue).

* When the main character dies in ''VideoGame/Persona3'', your MissionControl will occasionally exclaim "Oh no, please wake up!". In addition, [[spoiler: when the protagonist dies at the end of the main game, it's played as just being very tired and falling asleep. Only in The Answer from the MissionPackSequel is it confirmed that he did, in fact, die. The other characters also thought he was sleeping, and by the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late, and he was dead.]] Except for [[spoiler: Aigis, who, judging by the tone of her voice, [[TearJerker was fully aware that the protagonist was dying.]]]]

* John Ajvide Lindqvist's ''Handling The Undead'', where a mother and her father refuse to believe that their zombie son/grandson won't get better if they keep trying, to the point of purchasing books on autistic children, because they think that will help.
* ''Tideland'' is a freakish example. The daughter doesn't realize her dad has died and assumes he is "farting" when he starts to rot.

* The anti-nuclear poem ''Mother the wardrobe is full of infantrymen'' by Roger [=McGough=] ends with "mother don't just lie there, say something please" (said twice).
* Used somewhat disturbingly in the ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'' books:
** ''The Bellmaker'': Three young woodlanders are found shipwrecked on an island by the heroes. The younger two children mention that the adult who was on the ship with them is also on the island. The oldest kid eventually reveals to the heroes that the hedgehog had died from a head injury quite some time ago, but he left the body in the tent and told the other two that they had to stay out of the tent because the hedgehog needed to sleep.
** This trope also occurs in ''Mattimeo'', the third (in order of publication) novel in the series, which features a scene where a bankvole child vainly tries to rouse his murdered mother.
** Happens again in ''The Legend of Luke'', with the squirrel Chugger and his granny. This actually reduces an otter to tears. Said otter is one of the most [[SociopathicHero Sociopathic Heroes]] in the series, which says something.
* OlderThanDirt: In ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', Gilgamesh mourns over his friend Enkidu's body for seven days, dressing the corpse, imploring him to wake up, and refusing to allow a burial until he sees a maggot drop out of Enkidu's nose.
* Appropriately for its mythic style, sleeping is often a metaphor for death in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. As in, "she laid herself to rest on [some hill], and there is her green grave ..." In both novel and film Sam asks Frodo to wake up after Shelob stabs him, but gives up and declares him dead. It's somewhat more justified here than in the Peter Jackson film, because Sam stays beside him for hours in HeroicBSOD mode before finally getting the strength to leave and take the Ring to Mt. Doom on his own. [[spoiler: Of course, he's alive.]]
* Harry did this to Ginny in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''. Although she turned out to be alive, she was in a kind of magical coma and was thus about as responsive as a corpse anyway.
** He did a variation on this when Sirius died in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. Sirius literally fell through the veil separating life and death, and Harry refused to believe Sirius is dead, instead insisting that he's okay and will step through the veil again.

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
** Bluepaw (young Bluestar) in the book ''Bluestar's Prophecy'' does this when [[spoiler:her mother Moonflower is killed by Hawkheart in the attack on the [=WindClan=] camp.]] The sequence is made even more heartbreaking when [[spoiler:Bluepaw must relay the news to her sister Snowpaw.]]
** Done again in ''The Last Hope'', when [[spoiler:Ferncloud]] is killed. One of the kits wonders what happened, and another one tells them not to worry, that [[spoiler:Ferncloud]] is only asleep and that [[spoiler:Dustpelt]] will wake her up. At this point, [[spoiler:Dustpelt]] is ''begging'' [[spoiler:Ferncloud]] not to leave him.
* In ''Literature/CirqueDuFreak'' by Darren Shan when Darren fakes his own death, at his wake his sister Annie is heard screaming for him to "stop playing around and wake up". He's not actually dead but still...

* The children in ''Film/TheBlueLagoon'' (book and film) think their adult friend Paddy is taking a nap at the opposite end of the lagoon and row over to wake him, only to find him with his eyes wide open, bugs already at work, and a tiny crab crawls out of his mouth when they turn him over.

* Creator/JacquelineWilson's novel Literature/DustbinBaby has a young April speaking to the police after her adoptive mother, unbekownst to her, has [[spoiler: killed herself in the bath.]]
-->'''Policewoman:''' I'm afraid Mummy's gone to sleep.
-->'''April:''' You have to keep shaking her and then she wakes up.
-->'''Policewoman:''' I'm afraid Mummy can't wake up now. She's going to stay asleep.
-->'''April:''' But she's in the bathroom! Has she gone to sleep in the bath?
* This was Martha's initial reaction to Mathew's death in ''Literature/ClocksThatDontTick''.
* A rare adult example occurs in ''Literature/SalemsLot''. Tony Glick loses control at [[OutlivingOnesOffspring the funeral of his 12-year-old son Danny]], and throws himself into the grave, pounding on the coffin and shouting for his son to wake up.
-->"Danny, you come outta there! ... Danny, goddammit, you stop this fucking around! ... Danny, you stop it now! You got your Momma scared!"
* Literature/CircleOfMagic:
** In ''Tris's Book'' Tris freaks out after her cousin Aymery dies, arguing with his body while thinking that she wants him to wake up. He was killed by pirates who he [[TrappedByGamblingDebts owed vast quantities of money to]] after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outliving his usefulness to them]], in the process of letting the pirates into the temple she lives in, but he was the only member of her family who'd ever been nice to her.
** In ''Briar's Book'', Briar spends the night at the bedside of one of the blue pox patients, [[spoiler: his friend Flick]], who dies holding his hand. When told to get up, he protests that he can't let go or he'll wake her-- despite having seen her stop breathing-- because he's so exhausted from tending patients and staying awake all night. His teacher gently replies "You know better."
* In ''[[Literature/TheDarkArtifices Lord Of Shadows]]'' after Julian's little sister, Livvy, is killed, he goes into denial and begs her to open her eyes.
* Sunny begs for Dune to wake up after Scarlet snaps his neck in ''Literature/WingsOfFire''. She's an example of the "denial" variant as Sunny is old enough to understand death.
* ''Literature/MySweetAudrina'''s husband visits her daily during her coma to move her arms and legs and ask this of her. Unfortunately, given that he's currently having an affair with her half-sister/cousin, Audrina doubts his sincerity.

* In [[Literature/CircleOfMagic Tris's Book]], Tris freaks out in this way after her cousin Aymery dies. He was killed by pirates who he [[TrappedByGamblingDebts owed vast quantities of money to]] after [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outliving his usefulness to them]], in the process of letting the pirates into the temple she lives in, but he was the only member of her family who'd ever been nice to her.
** ''Briar's Book'', too, when Briar is comforting one of the blue pox patients, [[spoiler: his friend Flick]], who dies holding his hand. He tells his teacher he can't let go or he'll wake her, and his teacher gently replies "You know better." He does, but he was exhausted from tending patients and hadn't slept all night.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Grimly humorous example from ''Thinning the Herd'' (which is basically a Website/DarwinAwards [[FollowTheLeader ripoff]]): someone died, and was left there for ''months'' because his sons believed he was just resting. (Insert your own Creator/MontyPython reference here).
* In 1992, Rachel Nickell was murdered in front of her two-year-old son, Alex; a passerby found him clinging to his mother's blood-soaked body, repeating the words "Wake up, Mummy", with [[InnocentInaccurate a piece of paper stuck to her forehead as a bandage]].
* In Sharon Murphy's 911 call, at one point she tearfully begs her [[Creator/BrittanyMurphy daughter]] to wake up. Alas, she never did wake up again.
* In her autobiography, ''First They Killed My Father'', Cambodian Loung Ung imagines what happened when her mother and younger sister were executed by the Khmer Rouge. In the scenario she creates, her mother is killed first and her sister (who is "too young to understand what has just happened") is killed while vainly trying to make the mother get up. Of course, there is no way of knowing what actually happened in this case.
* Apparently one of the young children in the Donner Party tried to wake up their mother's half-eaten corpse.
* Lakota warrior and holy man Black Elk said he saw a baby trying to nurse from its dead mother at the Wounded Knee massacre.
* Apparently, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaP7STV1aFs this cat.]] (Warning: Video of a cat attempting to revive its dead friend.) For that matter, cats do this every day to their owners. They start off with sniffing them, then poke them in the face.
* [[http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/shenzhen-son-refuses-to-believe-father-is-dead.html This man from Shenzhen, China, whose father suddenly died.]]
* Female chimpanzees have been observed in the wild, carrying their dead infants as if refusing to accept that they have died. In another instance, an older female died of natural causes, and her young son didn't stop returning to try to wake her up until maggots appeared on her carcass.
* Dolphin mothers often behave similarly if their calf is stillborn or dies soon after birth, pushing it to the surface with their noses so it can breathe and carrying it around until decay sets in.
* Cows do the same thing, if their calf is stillborn or dies soon after birth, they will nudge it and moo gently to it until they finally give up and leave the corpse, never to return to the spot.
* At least one of the rhinoceroses that died at the Ashfall Fossil Beds site in Nebraska around 11 million years ago was a calf that died trying to suckle from its dead mother.
* Many serial works and social media feeds have suddenly gone silent, leaving their followers to wonder (and sometimes ask) when they are going to release another update, not knowing it's a case of DiedDuringProduction.
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[[caption-width-right:350:"Dad?...Dad, c'mon...you've gotta get up. Dad...we've gotta go home."]]

* At the start of ''Anime/InazumaElevenAres'', Sonny's IllGirl mother dies. Sonny goes into denial and starts crying. He asks her to wake up and even [[ParentalTitleCharacterization reverts to using "Mommy"]].

* The finale of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has [[spoiler:Nunnally]] doing this in the final TearJerker of the series. In this case, however, the person in question is old enough to understand death and saw the deceased get stabbed through the chest; the reaction is because [[spoiler: they were incredibly close (and possibly because [[PartingWordsRegret one of the last things she said to him was "You're a devil!"]]).]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Nunnally:''']] "You can't leave me! You can't! Please open your eyes [[spoiler: big brother]], ''please!'' ''[[spoiler:BIG BROTHER]]!''"

TruthInTelevision, sadly; most young children have difficulty understanding the finality of death and are terrified and confused when they discover [[KilledOffForReal people don't wake up sometimes]], which does give a little credence to {{Media Watchdog}}s being cautious about death on television.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' Played for laugh in the episode, "Tearjerker", a ''Film/JamesBond'' spoof. The titular villain (Roger) plans to TakeOverTheWorld by creating the ultimate {{tearjerker}} film about a [[UpToEleven mentally handicapped alcoholic Jewish boy whose puppy dies of cancer during the Holocaust]], aptly titled "[[OscarBait Oscar Gold]]". After he's foiled by Stan and is escaping he reveals his backup plan for an even sadder film; six hours of a baby chimp trying to revive its dead mother.

* ''Jason's Lyric'': When his girlfriend, Lyric, is (accidentally) shot by his own brother, Joshua, Jason tearfully pleads her to stay strong by reminding about their plan to escape town together (after he initially called it off, out of brotherly love). [[spoiler:Thankfully, Lyric miraculously survives as she and Jason are seen riding a bus together in the end.]]

* Possibly the most soul-crushing and heart-wrending example in live-action film is the 1979 version of ''Film/TheChamp'', wherein the titular character, (Jon Voight) dies in the locker room shortly after winning a brutal boxing match and his young son, played by Ricky Schroeder, (whose acting chops here bury most full grown adult actors), goes into an emotional meltdown trying to get his dad to wake up. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9sAB4JFh4Q You can watch it here.]] It's so sad that at least one [[ForScience study on the biology of crying]] used it as a reliable way to produce tears.

* In ''Anime/RingingBell'', minutes after [[HeroicSacrifice Chirin's Mother sacrifices herself]] to protect [[SweetSheep Chirin]] from getting killed by [[SavageWolf Woe the wolf]]. Chirin suddenly emerges from his mother's body thinking she was knocked out. After he attempts to wake her up by shaking her hoof. It suddenly hits him that his mother has been killed and [[InelegantBlubbering begins wailing]]. As he's crying, Chirin starts running around her lifeless body [[StunnedSilence while the other sheep can only watch on in silence.]]

* At the end of the first ''Fanfic/HalloweenUnspectacular'', after the BigBad [=ReGenesis=]/[[spoiler:[[CanonCharacterAllAlong Dib Membrane]]]] hits the ResetButton on their [[OmnicidalManiac destruction of earth]], at the [[DeathEqualsRedemption cost of their own life]]. WesternAnimation/InvaderZim tries this on them... [[TearJerker Sadly to no effect]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}'', Mowgli says this to Baloo when the bear has apparently died fighting Shere Khan. Bagheera begins to try to gently explain this to the boy but, this being [[DisneyDeath Disney]], Baloo is of course NotQuiteDead.

-->'''Chirin:''' No! You can't die mom! (starts crying hysterically) Don't die, mom! Don't die! (starts running around her body and shaking her) No! Wake up! Wake up, I say! Don't die on me! Mom... (falls down her body) Don't die!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'': Like Simba, Littlefoot urges his mother to stand before she dies from her injuries.

--> Helen. Are you awake? It's morning. Helen! ''[[DeathWail screams]]''

[[caption-width-right:350: "We gotta go home."]]